JPH06102731A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] An electronic device that can prevent unintended miscopying due to the fact that the operating mode of the previous user using the key counter has remained after using the key counter. An image forming apparatus such as a copying machine is provided. In an electronic copying machine, which has a key counter mounting portion 7 to which a key counter 8 for counting the number of copies and the like is attached and detached, and when the key counter 8 is attached to the key counter mounting portion 7, a copying operation is possible. A key counter attachment / detachment detector 9 for detecting the attachment / detachment state of the key counter 8 is provided. When the detector 9 detects that the key counter 8 is attached, the control unit 51 sets a flag. When the key counter attachment / detachment detector 9 detects that the key counter 8 has been detached, the control unit 51 refers to the above-mentioned flag to preset the state of the copying machine if it is in the set state. While returning to the initial state,
Clear the above flags.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus suitable for application to, for example, an electronic copying machine having a removable key counter.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various electronic copying machines have been developed which use a key counter to manage the number of copies. This kind of electronic copying machine has a key counter mounting portion to which a key counter is attached and detached, and the copying operation is possible only when the key counter is attached to the key counter mounting portion.

Generally, a key counter is used for
It stores the usage status of the copying machine. Therefore,
When one electronic copying machine is used by various people or in various places, the usage state can be individually known by the key counter.

[0004]

However, in the conventional electronic copying machine, even if the mounted key counter is removed after the copying process using the key counter is completed,
Since the copy mode state at that time remains as it is, the copy mode of the previous user set by the previous user using the key counter remains as it is.

For this reason, the user after the key counter is removed performs copying in the copy mode in which the previous user who uses the key counter remains, that is, an unintended miscopy. May occur.

Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of unintended miscopy due to the fact that the operation mode of the previous user using the key counter remains after using the key counter. An object is to provide a forming device.

[0007]

An image forming apparatus of the present invention has a key counter mounting portion to which a key counter for counting the number of times of image formation is attached and detached, and the key counter is attached to the key counter mounting portion. Then, in the image forming apparatus which is in the image forming operable state, a detection unit that detects the attachment / detachment state of the key counter to / from the key counter mounting unit, and the detection unit detects that the key counter is mounted in the key counter mounting unit. Upon detection, the storage means stores the mounted state, and when the detection means detects that the key counter has been detached from the key counter mounting portion, by referring to the stored contents of the storage means, If the installed state of the key counter is stored, the state of this device can be returned to the preset initial state. And a control means for clearing the memory contents of the storage means.

[0008]

When the key counter is removed, the operation mode of the previous user using the key counter remains by performing the initialization processing for returning the state of the apparatus to the preset initial state. It is possible to prevent the occurrence of an unintended mistaken copy due to a mistake.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 shows the appearance of an electronic copying machine as an image forming apparatus according to this embodiment. In the figure,
Reference numeral 1 is a main body of the copying machine, and a document table (not shown) on the upper surface thereof.
The document cover 2 is provided on the document table so as to be openable and closable. At the front part of the upper surface of the main body 1, an operation panel 3 provided with various operation keys and a display is provided. A small-capacity paper feed cassette 4 and a large-capacity paper feed cassette 5 are detachably provided on the right side of the drawing of the main body 1. On the left side of the drawing of the main body 1, a paper discharge tray 6 for discharging the copied paper is provided.

A key counter mounting portion 7 is formed at a predetermined position on the right side of the body 1 with respect to the drawing, and a key counter 8 is detachably attached to the key counter mounting portion 7. As shown in FIG. 3, the key counter mounting portion 7 is provided with a key counter attachment / detachment detector (for example, a micro switch) 9 as a detection means for detecting the attachment / detachment state of the key counter 8. In this embodiment,
When the key counter 8 is mounted on the key counter mounting portion 7, the key counter attachment / detachment detector 9 detects the mounting of the key counter 8 to enable the copying operation.

FIG. 4 schematically shows the internal structure of the above electronic copying machine. In the figure, in the main body 1,
An image forming means 11 is provided for forming an image by an image forming process such as charging, exposure, development, transfer, fixing and cleaning. The image forming means 11 has a photoconductor drum 12 as an image bearing member rotatably supported in a substantially central portion of the main body 1. Around the photoconductor drum 12, a charging device 13 and a toner are provided. Magnetic brush type developing device 14, transfer device 15, which uses a two-component developer composed of a carrier and a carrier,
A peeling device 16, a cleaning device 17, and a charge eliminating device 18 are arranged in this order. The photoconductor drum 12 is rotated in the clockwise direction so that the surface of the photoconductor drum 12 is uniformly charged by the charging device 13.

A document table 19 made of transparent glass is provided on the upper surface of the main body 1, and a document cover 2 for pressing a document (not shown) is provided on the document table 19 so as to be openable and closable.

An exposure device 20 as an exposure means is arranged below the document table 19. The exposure apparatus 20 is
Exposure lamp 2 whose back portion is bent by a reflector 21
2, first, second and third reflection mirrors 23, 24, 25,
The lens 26 and the fourth, fifth and sixth reflection mirrors 2
It is composed of optical systems such as 7, 28 and 29.

That is, an image of a document (not shown) placed on the document table 19 is optically scanned by the exposure device 20 and is exposed on the photosensitive drum 12 of the image forming means 11 to expose it. An electrostatic latent image is formed on the photosensitive drum 12. The photosensitive drum 1
The electrostatic latent image formed on the second toner is a toner as a developer in the magnetic brush of the developer supplied by the developing device 14.
Is developed into a toner image.

A small-capacity paper feed cassette 4 and a large-capacity paper feed cassette 5 for accommodating paper sheets are detachably provided on the right side of the main body 1 in the drawing. From the pickup roller 3 selectively
0,31 and paper feed rollers 32,33
It is designed to be taken out one by one.

The paper taken out from the paper feed cassette 4 or 5 is passed through the pair of registration rollers 34 and the photosensitive drum 12 is passed through.
The toner image on the photoconductor drum 12 is transferred onto the paper by the transfer device 15 while being guided to and between the transfer device 15 and the transfer device 15.

The sheet after transfer is peeled from the photosensitive drum 12 by the peeling device 16 by AC corona discharge, and is conveyed to the fixing device 36 via the conveying belt 35.
The fixing device 36 melts and fixes the toner image on the sheet.

The sheet after fixing is taken out by a take-out roller pair 37 provided on the downstream side of the fixing device 36, and is ejected by switching a gate 38 provided on the downstream side of the take-out roller pair 37. It is configured to be discharged onto a discharge tray 6 provided outside the main body 1 via a pair of paper rollers 39, or to be conveyed again to a reversing means 40 formed on the bottom of the main body 1. .

The sheet conveyed to the reversing means 40 is switched back and guided again between the photosensitive drum 12 and the transfer device 15 via the pair of registration rollers 41 and 34, whereby double-sided copying is possible. I have to.

The residual toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 12 after the transfer of the toner image to the paper and the peeling of the paper is scraped off by the cleaning device 17, and the scraped used toner and waste toner containing foreign matters are scraped off. Are discharged to the outside of the cleaning device 17 by a conveyance roller (not shown). The surface of the photoconductor drum 12 that has been cleaned by the cleaning device 17 has its electric potential removed by a neutralization device 18 to a level below a certain level to enable the next copying operation.

FIG. 1 shows a main part of a control system of the electronic copying machine configured as described above. In the figure, 51
Is a control unit as a control means for controlling the entire apparatus,
For example, it is mainly configured by a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and the like. The control unit 51 includes
The operation panel 3, the key counter mounting portion 7, the key counter attachment / detachment detector 9, the image forming means 11, various sensors 52 (not shown), etc. are connected to each other.

Next, the operation of the above arrangement will be described with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG. Control unit 51
In the interrupt processing of a fixed period, the key counter check routine shown in the flowchart of FIG. 5 is executed to constantly fetch and monitor the output signal of the key counter attachment / detachment detector 9. That is, when the key counter check routine is entered, it is first determined whether or not the test mode set by a service person or the like is in progress (S1), and if it is in the test mode, the process returns to the main routine. If it is not in the test mode, it is judged whether or not it is in the residual heat mode (S
2) If it is in the residual heat mode, return to the main routine. That is, like the test mode and residual heat mode,
When the copying operation is prohibited, the key counter check routine is not executed.

If not in the residual heat mode, the output signal (CTRSIG) of the key counter attachment / detachment detector 9 is checked to determine whether or not the key counter 8 is attached to the key counter attaching portion 7 (S3). . As a result of this determination, if the key counter 8 is attached (CTRSI
If G = “1”), the key counter flag (KCTON) provided in the control unit 51 is set to “1” (S
4) Return to the main routine.

If the result of the determination in step S3 is that the key counter 8 has been removed (if CTRSIG = "0"), the key counter attachment / detachment detector 9 outputs again after waiting for a predetermined time (S5). By checking the signal (CTRSIG), it is determined whether or not the key counter 8 is mounted on the key counter mounting portion 7 (S6). As a result of this determination, if the key counter 8 is attached (CT
If RSIG = "1"), the process returns to the main routine to continue the processing in the main routine.

If the result of determination in step S6 is that the key counter 8 has been removed (if CTRSIG = "0"), then it is checked whether or not copying is currently in progress (S7). If the copying operation is in progress, the process returns to the main routine to proceed to the copying operation stop processing.

Here, the copy operation stop processing means that new paper is not supplied. For paper that has already started feeding, wait until it is ejected. It should be noted that although the sheets counted by the sheet number counter are normally copied, for the sheets which have not been counted yet, for example, the photosensitive drum 12 is used.
An erasing lamp (not shown) provided on the surface of the sheet is turned on to prevent an image from being formed on the sheet.

If the result of the check in step S7 is that the copying operation is not in progress, the key counter flag (KC
By referring to (TON), it is checked whether or not the key counter flag (KCTON) is set to "1" (S8). If it is not set to "1" (KCTON = "0"). ), Return to the main routine.

As a result of the check in step S8, if the key counter flag (KCTON) is set to "1" (if KCTON = "1"), the key counter flag (KCTON) is reset to "0". After doing (S
9) An initialization process for returning the state of the copying machine to the preset initial state is performed (S10), and the process returns to the main routine.

The initialization here means returning to the same state as when the power is turned on. Specifically, for example, the number of copies is set to "1", the copy magnification is set to the same size, and the image density is set. The double-sided copy mode is automatically cleared and the edit mode is cleared automatically.

Further, the initialization process is performed at the time when all the sheets for which the sheet feeding operation has been started are normally discharged. However, when an abnormality such as a paper jam occurs during this period, the initialization process is not performed and the current mode is maintained.

By performing such initialization processing, when the key counter 8 is removed, the key counter 8
Even if the previous user's copy mode set by the previous user who has used the key counter 8 remains as it is, all of them are cleared and initialized at the same time as the key counter 8 is removed. Can be prevented.

Further, when it is detected that the key counter 8 has been removed, after a predetermined time, it is detected again whether or not the key counter 8 has been removed. It is possible to prevent the initialization from being performed when the key counter 8 comes off the key counter mounting portion 7.

By using the key counter flag as described above, the program is always processed when the key counter 8 is removed. The initialization of the state of the copying machine is performed by the key counter. After the key counter 8 is mounted on the mounting portion 7, it is carried out only once when it is detached. As a result, for example, the user of the copying machine can set the desired mode and then mount the key counter 8 to perform the desired copying process.

[0035]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, after the use of the key counter, the operation mode of the previous user who uses the key counter remains, so that the unintentional miscopying is not performed. An image forming apparatus capable of preventing the occurrence can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing a main part of a control system of an electronic copying machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the appearance of an electronic copying machine.

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view schematically showing a key counter mounting portion.

FIG. 4 is a side view schematically showing the internal configuration of the electronic copying machine.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a main part.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Device body, 2 ... Original cover, 3 ... Operation panel, 4, 5 ... Paper feed cassette, 7 ... Key counter mounting part, 8 ... Key counter, 9 ... Key counter attachment / detachment detector, 11 ... Image forming means, 51 ... Control section.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus having a key counter mounting portion to which a key counter for counting the number of times of image formation and the like is attached and detached, and when the key counter is attached to the key counter mounting portion, an image forming operation is possible. In the detecting means for detecting the attachment / detachment state of the key counter to / from the key counter attaching portion, and when the detecting means detects that the key counter is attached to the key counter attaching portion,
When the storage means for storing the state and the storage state of the key counter mounted on the key counter mounting portion are stored in the storage means, the key counter is detected from the key counter mounting portion by the detection means. When it is detected that the image forming apparatus is removed, the image forming apparatus is provided with a control unit for returning the image forming apparatus to an initial state set in advance and for controlling to clear the stored contents of the storage unit. Image forming apparatus. 2. An image forming apparatus having a key counter mounting portion to which a key counter for counting the number of times of image formation and the like is attached and detached, and when the key counter is attached to the key counter mounting portion, an image forming operation is possible. In the detecting means for detecting the attachment / detachment state of the key counter to / from the key counter attaching portion, and when the detecting means detects that the key counter is attached to the key counter attaching portion,
When the storage means for storing the state and the storage state of the key counter mounted on the key counter mounting portion are stored in the storage means, the key counter is detected from the key counter mounting portion by the detection means. When it is detected that the image forming apparatus is detached, and after a predetermined time, the detecting unit again detects that the key counter is detached from the key counter mounting portion, the image forming apparatus is preset to an initial state. An image forming apparatus, comprising: a control unit that controls to clear the stored contents of the storage unit while returning to the above.